IGCSE – Introduction

Years 10 and 11

The International General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations have been developed to provide a wide-ranging, rigorous evaluation of students’ abilities. Increasingly, schools in the U.K. are moving over to the IGCSEs as they are perceived to be more demanding and balanced than the GCSEs generally taken there and they are not subject to input from the U.K. Education Ministry, meaning that they can be written and administered without bias or pressure from outside the examination board.

IGCSE grades are accepted worldwide as accurate indicators of a student’s ability within his or her chosen subjects.

Having completed Year 9 all students commencing CIS Year 10 are required to study: English Language, Mathematics, ICT and an elected subject. Once year 10 has been completed and the 4 IGCSEs have been successfully achieved, students are required to study a further 4 subjects during the next school year (Year 11) with an option to also sit one other subject at the extended (AS) level.

IGCSE subjects currently on offer include:

English

Mathematics

Chemistry

Biology

Physics

ICT

Accounting

Art and Design

Arabic

History

Geography

Economics

Business Studies

All IGCSE syllabuses follow a general pattern. The main sections are:

• Aims

• Assessment

• Curriculum Content.

IGCSE Year 12

During this final year at school students will have successfully completed their 8 IGCSEs together with any retakes and extended subjects. Dependent upon the entry requirements of their chosen university, students are given the option to complete their extended subjects (A2) and/or take further AS examinations.